A wave of gun violence struck Chicago over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, claiming the lives of 12 men and wounding at least 60 other people.
The gun violence began Wednesday when 26-year-old William Jones was fatally shot as he sat in a vehicle parked on the side of South Loomis Street.
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Later Wednesday, three gunshot victims showed up at St. Bernard Hospital. One of them who had been struck in the head later died. The other two are recovering from wounds to the chest and shoulder, respectively.
The same night a man exited a vehicle and shot Rayford Brown, 24, in the back on East 79th Street. Brown later died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
On Thursday, Shavonte Howard, 20, was shot in the head near Chicago's Gage Park neighborhood. He
died the following day at Mount Sinai Hospital, police told NBC Chicago.
Later Thursday night, two men approached Marlon Obanner, 30, and shot him to death as he stood on a porch of a home on South Marshfield Avenue.
Two other men were killed in separate attacks Thursday.
Friday saw another murder in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, police said. Elliot Frazier, 26, was found with multiple gunshot wounds and pronounced dead on the scene.
The violence continued Saturday and Sunday with at least two more murders.
Two boys, aged 5 and 7, were among those wounded in the weekend spree of gun violence. Both were injured in separate shootings at area parks on Friday.
"While to date we've had significantly fewer shootings and significantly fewer murders this year, there's more work to be done and we won't rest until everyone in Chicago enjoys the same sense of safety," Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said in the statement.
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